Temple ranked No. 1 in USCAA and other sports news

Tennessee Temple University's baseball team is ranked No. 1 in the USCAA national coaches' poll released Friday, and the Chattanooga school is No. 15 in the softball top 20. Coach Greg Bartley's baseball Crusaders (14-6) totaled 299 points in the balloting, 16 more than second-place Rochester College. Temple is merging with Piedmont International in North Carolina and will close the Chattanooga campus after this school year.

* The Nashville Maroons won 23-6 over Mountain City of Chattanooga in the opening match of the Tennessee Association of Vintage Base Ball season Saturday in Fort Oglethorpe, and the Franklin Farriers then defeated the Lightfoot Club of Chattanooga 15-10. The Chattanooga clubs play again April 18 at the 6th Cavalry Museum polo grounds, Mountain City hosting the Knoxville Holstons at noon and Lightfoot facing Knoxville's Emmett Machinists at 2:30. There is no admission charge, and spectators are encouraged to bring lawn chairs or blankets to watch the gloveless, 1860s version of the sport. There is no bleacher seating. The Knoxville clubs open their seasons this Saturday at home at the Historic Ramsey House.

Golf

* Third-ranked and defending NAIA national champion Coastal Georgia has a six-stroke lead after shooting two rounds of 291 Sunday in the Golfweek NAIA Spring Invitational tournament at the Mission Inn Golf and Tennis Resort in central Florida, and Dalton State is tied for fifth at 600 after a second-round 293 in the 14-school field loaded with ranked teams. Coastal Georgia's Alastair Tidcombe, Hunter Cornelius from Heritage High in Ringgold and Allen Bradford are third, fourth and tied for fifth at 144, 145 and 146, and Dalton State's Levi Nix also is at 146 with teammate Sean Elliott tied for 18th at 148. DSC's Chase Jones rebounded from an 80 to shoot 72 and is tied for 33rd.

* Chattanoogan Emily Javadi led the Sewanee women's golf team to a 715-722 win over Southern Athletic Association foe Oglethorpe in a dual match Friday and Saturday at the Course at Sewanee. Javadi shot 170 (86-84) to beat the Stormy Petrels' top finisher by four strokes. The Tigers' Alison Eleey had the third best score, 176.

Track & Field

* Sewanee's Cortez Brown, Ky-Edward Anderson, Kirk Murphy and Will DuBose finished second in the men's 4x100-meter relay Saturday at the Centre Invitational track and field meet in Danville, Ky. The meet included 15 men's teams and 16 women's, and Sewanee had another runner-up in Amy Nelson with a school-record women's hammer throw of 40.98 meters (134 feet, 5 inches). Teammate Karagan Day was fourth in the women's triple jump, and Amy Lee was fifth in the 1500 run. The Tigers' Davis Couch, DuBose, Zach Abeles and Amiel Emerson were third in the men's 4x400, and Emerson was sixth in the 800.

Running

* The 2015 Run for God race series begins Saturday at Prater's Mill in Varnell, Ga., with the Run at the Mill 5k, 10k and half marathon. The series is adding a 10-kilometer race to its standard 5k at J Fest on June 20 at Camp Jordan Park in East Ridge, and there will be a sprint triathlon at the Dalton Recreation Department on July 25. The series will return to Camp Jordan on Aug. 14 for the female-only Pinky Challenge. Dalton resident Mitchell Hollis began Run for God five years ago to give a spiritual controlling aspect to the healthy principles of running, and runners wearing "Run for God" T-shirts are regulars at many area races. The organization developed a 12-week Run for God 5K Challenge as an introduction to running with an emphasis on Bible study, and that program has spread from Grove Level Baptist Church five years ago to nearly 2,000 churches and more than 60,000 participants throughout North America, according to a recent release. Now there are programs for 10k, half marathon and youth triathlon studies, and Run for God races are scheduled this June in Athens, Ga., and Cape Girardeau, Mo., and in December in Warner Robins, Ga.

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